Don't Breathe
by ArcticRascal
Summary: Pearl wakes up to find herself trapped in a car with Lapis Lazuli of all people. The scenario wouldn't have been that bad... If they hadn't been in the middle of a forest... Something prowls outside their only shelter that leaves them fighting for their lives and slowly developing their broken relationship. And Pearl only knows one thing, "Don't Breathe." (Posted onto AO3)
1. Chapter 1 - Trapped

Chapter 1 - Trapped

Pearl's head was pounding. A distinct ringing overwhelmed her ears as she opened her eyes painfully, a sickening smell of metal and mud emanated from the cold surroundings around her. It was so thick that she had trouble breathing and her chest felt tight.

'What the hell is going on?'

She looked at her surroundings wearily. She was in a car, in fact, she was in a car **crash**. Her head was bleeding and the dripping blood ran down her neck. The windshield was cracked and the front of the car was covered in dents, she was going to move herself forwards and get a good look but Pearl shivered at the realisation that a sharp tree branch had a jagged piece of wood aimed right at her throat.

Carefully, Pearl gripped the branch and pushed it out the way. 'I don't want to be a pincushion for a bunch of branches any time soon.' The branch moved with a loud creak before it tumbled out the window, breaking some more glass from the drivers window and cutting Pearl's hand. The tall girl winced slightly and cradled her injured palm against her chest.

It was a terrible time for the shock to set in.

'What happened? Where am I? How did I get here?' Pearl shivered.

It was pitch black outside the car, she could make out trees and heard the typical sounds a forest make in a horror film but otherwise there was no sort of recognisable sign or road around her.

Then… She heard a shuffle behind her.

Pearl was so preoccupied with what was outside the car, that she never paid attention to what was **inside** the crashed car. The interior mirrors were smashed and she couldn't see what was in the backseat with the one remaining exterior mirror that was across the empty passenger seat. She tried to hide her shaking hands and frightful gasps and bravely turned to face whatever terror awaited her.

It was a terror indeed.

A familiar girl sat in the backseat, a tree branch had pierced into her side and she was bleeding out slowly. It made Pearl's heart drop and she had to take a second look just to actually get a grip of what she was looking at.

She groaned in pain, a small whimper escaped her lips.

Pearl jumped and started to reach to the cars ceiling, feeling for the familiar light switch. She felt a wave of relief as she felt the small button and clicked it on, she could see the damage much more clearly now... And she wished she hadn't.

"Ugh." The girl scrunched her face in recoil to the light. Pearl watched her slowly open her eyes, a nice, deep, blue greeted her.

Like a spark of electricity she remembered the girls name.

"Lapis?!"

The girl scoffed in reply. "Where the hell am I?" She groaned and looked down, her hands shook as she touched her bleeding side and gasped as the blood covered her hand, "W-what happened?! W-why?" Her tanned skin went pale and she looked like she was going to faint.

"Calm down, it'll be okay!" Pearl tried, her hands up in a calming gesture.

"Like hell it will!" Lapis hissed and gripped the branch, "shit… I need to pull it out…"

"What?! No!" Pearl tried to move but just noticed the seatbelt that kept her secure to the drivers seat, she fumbled with the seatbelt. The blood from her cut made her grip slick and she couldn't grasp the buckle. Even when she managed to grab it she panicked once she seen the buckle was jammed. "L-Lapis don't pull it out!"

"Ugh, don't tell me what to do." Pearl looked back again and watched in horror as the girl bit her blood-stained shirt and yanked out the branch. It made a sickening ' **crunch'** and Lapis (although muffled) screamed in pain and she keeled over. "Shit!"

Pearl looked around the car and reached to the best of her ability to the car compartment. She yanked it open as well as she could with her bloody hand and grinned when she seen tissues and handkerchiefs laid out neatly inside. Pearl grabbed a handful and threw it back to Lapis, then she wrapped some of the fabric around her hand tightly.

Lapis was panting behind her as she pressured the wound with some of the tissues. Pearl felt sick, she could feel her throat tightening and knees shake.

Lapis Lazuli.

Of all people it had to be her sitting in the back seat.

It wasn't like she never liked Lapis, it was that the other girl never liked her. Pearl was slightly guilty of that fact, perhaps she even was even more that 'slightly' guilty of why Lapis couldn't stand her presence. She clenched her hands painfully. 'No point thinking about what happened… It's not going to get me out of here.'

A rumble brought her back to reality.

Pearl' eyes shot up and glanced around the darkness, another grumble caused her to gasp, she reached up and turned the interior light off with a hurried ' **click** '.

"W-what are you-?"

"Shhh!" Pearl silenced Lapis and focused on outside.

It sounded like footsteps…

Pearl tried to hide into the drivers seat but the seatbelt made that difficult, the grumbling came closer and she could hear branches snap and trees groan. The wind also started to pick up.

'All I need is a storm to start right now…' Pearl grumbled, she heard the screaming of metal behind her as the grumbling grew louder. It was as if something was scratching the car outside. She shut her eyes and her hands covered her mouth.  
Tears escaped her eyes as all she could think of was 'I'm going to die, this is it!'

She held her breath desperately as it approached her car door.

But then the sounds of shuffling and grumbling stopped and she could only hear heavy breathing. It wasn't Lapis, she knew that for a fact, it was low and guttural. It sounded almost like an animal wheezing. Whatever it was, it was poking it's face into the window. Pearl was dying to get her breath back as the creature grumbled beside her, she stayed desperately still as if trying to look dead.

She shuddered as the thudding and grumbling began again but grew quiet and slowly diminished.  
Pearl opened her eyes again and looked round, nothing had changed. She gasped and wheezed in lungfuls of air.

Nothing changed… Yet at the same time **everything** changed.

They weren't safe, not here and definitely not out there.

They were trapped in the car, in the middle of the forest, in the dark.

Pearl looked back to Lapis, her head was hanging back on the seat and her limp hands weakly stopped her bleeding.

They stared at each other for a moment. Too scared to say anything, too weak to say anything.  
It was a risk to turn the light on again and Pearl looked at the light switch ominously.

"What do we do?" Pearl whispered and brought her hands to her face. it didn't stop her shivering and only made her head pound even more.

"Well, we can't go anywhere now can we?" Lapis groaned painfully, "Let's… ugh… L-lets just try and remember what happened."

"Right…" Pearl breathed out, closing her eyes, "What happened…"


	2. Chapter 2 - The Accident

Chapter 2 - The Accident

No one was on good terms as they entered the car. Pearl just had an argument with Amethyst that was now mulling about in the passenger seat beside her, she was just staring out the window silently. Waiting until the car began to move. Behind them was Peridot, working on some sort of project in her phone and… Lapis, resting her head back and already listening to her music.

Everything was already packed and everyone was in the car, it was already past the point of just not going.

But Pearl still wondered if this was a good idea, she wondered why now of all times Garnet invited them for a reunion in a small unpopular tourist town known as Beach City. A town where they all shared many memories of their youth.

She felt uncomfortable as she started the car; her hands clenched the steering wheel, nervously clenching and relaxing. It wasn't the small argument with Amethyst or even Peridot's strange grins she gave her mobile that made her this way.

It was Lapis.

The thought of the long journey with **her** made her drive slightly faster as she subconsciously pushed down the accelerator.

"The tension is killing me." Pearl glanced at the mirror and seen Peridot eventually grumble and seen Lapis open an eye and glance at her roommate sitting beside her.

"Sorry," Amethyst sighed, but it was clearly directed to Peridot.

"I'm not the one you should be apologising to you know," Peridot said,  
Amethyst scoffed,  
"It **is** Pearl's car," Peridot added,

The short girl still stayed silent and Pearl groaned, her silence was definitely having an affect on her. "Okay! Fine!" she glanced at Amethyst that perked up, "you can drive on the way back…" She said through gritted teeth.

She could feel Amethyst's grin return,

"What? I don't think I heard you right~" She chuckled,

"I said!… You can drive on the way back…" Pearl grumbled again, "now shut up and don't bother me."

It was ridiculous how they got into a dispute over who would drive the car to their little trip to Beach City, it was supposed to be a relaxing week that took them away from their boring daily lives but Pearl just seemed to be regretting everything.

"Alright, Alright," Amethyst replied, Pearl could see her turn round to face the others in the back, she sighed slightly in relief, "so Peri, how are you and your girlfriend? I hope you're not doing 'anything' back here~! Or Pearl's gonna flip!"

"For the last time!" Peridot yelped, Pearl could see in the mirror that a large flustered blush dusted her cheeks "Me and Lazuli aren't dating! I don't even see how you can think that."

"Seriously? You two live together and you jump at the chance to show off to her."

"I don't!"

"She tries to show off to everyone…" Pearl glanced back and seen Lapis pull out an earphone out her ear, they shared a glance and Pearl frowned at her as much as Lapis frowned when they looked at each other. She gritted her teeth and looked back to the road,

"Peri, Peri, Peri… Such a show off." Amethyst chuckled and shook her head.

"Ugh, how long until we get there Pearl?" Peridot asked,

"We still have a long way to go," Pearl replied.

She couldn't be bothered calculating the exact time of arrival, she absolutely hated how far Beach City was sometimes. But it wasn't long until they got to Ocean Town, Pearl was sure that it wasn't. She thought back to the plan and how everyone would then stay the night and continue their journey the next day, the sun was already starting to set after several hours of driving and she turned her headlight on. She would drive into Ocean Town in just a few more hours.

But that never happened…

Pearl narrowed her eyes and looked ahead, trying her best to see beyond the restrictions of her cars headlights and the fog. There was a red bar cutting the road ahead off and large red sign was in front of the bar with large 'ROAD CLOSED' read out on the front in white. Some scratches and dents decorated the post that it was on but otherwise it looked recent.

This must have been a reason that they never seen any other cars in a long time.

"What?" the tall girl hummed and looked round, it was strange that there was a sign in the middle of no-where and that there wasn't even any reason as to why the road was closed off. She thought about raising the bar and chucking the sign to the side, but she didn't want to risk it, Pearl brought the car to a stop.

The whistling wind jangled the chain keeping the bar together and the post creaked slightly as it withstood the invisible force.

"Why'd you stop?" Amethyst turned round, she also seen the sign and she frowned slightly, "What now?"

"Well… We're going to have to find a way around." Pearl sighed and reversed the car, she looked round and found another sign pointing to a side road and as it was the only road going in the direction they were heading, she turned the car. Pearl ignored the screaming in her gut that told her to go back to the previous town they crossed and take a much safer, yet longer route and continued driving as she gritted her teeth.

The road was narrow and headed into a dark forest, the car jostled everyone inside slightly as it continued. It felt like they were driving for hours.

"How long is this road?" Peridot looked out the window, Pearl heard a small click that she recognised as the lock on the door.

"Scared Peridot?" Pearl heard Lapis from the back, she had beaten Amethyst to the punch.

"I-I'm just concerned… I mean, do we even know where we're going?" Peridot squeaked out,

"Of course we know where we're going dork!" Amethyst replied, her voice was warm and comforting.

The tall girl just had to doubt her on that. Pearl had never been on this road before, in fact, she didn't even know that it existed and the sounds that trees made had her shivering.

They drove a little further when they heard a distant grumbling. It was like a distant machine of some sort, 'farm machinery?' Pearl shook her head slightly, 'There are no farms in these dense forests.' Pearl tried not to liken the sound to an animal, she's heard of what bears can do to a car and that alone was frightening.

But a tiny inkling she had made her think that it was something way more terrifying.

"This was a bad idea…" She heard Lapis mutter under her breath, Pearl glanced back and seen that she was no longer listening to her music and that she had put her phone away into her jacket pocket that was hugging her hips. She was constantly shifting her gaze with Peridot, yet she remained calm and composed whereas her counterpart was almost hyperventilating.  
Pearl wondered how she could keep her cool throughout this event and not start barking at her for making the turn. The tall girl returned her gaze to the road, it was narrower than before and she didn't want to risk turning the vehicle as there was a steep hill going down to their right and a thick forest to their left.

Then the grumbling came back, much, much louder than before.

"What was that?!" Peridot yelped, Pearl heard a zipping sound and noticed that the green girl put her device into an equally green backpack at her feet.

"I-It's probably nothing!" Amethyst shuddered "Just keep driving Pearl."

'Oh I intend to.' She nodded her head in acknowledgment.

Another grumble rang through the car, it was practically outside her door. Pearl increased the acceleration, she swore that she seen a house's porch-light in the distance and there **must** have been enough space to turn the car around there. She drove faster and faster.

"A-Aren't you driving a little too fast?" Peridot whimpered, Pearl could see the girl in that back give her the classic 'puppy' look that she grew immune to over the years.

"We're almost there…" Pearl replied. The house grew bigger in the distance, she could see the flat road ahead

"P, I know that we both like it fast." Amethyst tried to laugh by the slight pun and innuendo, it made Pearl slightly blush but she stopped herself from shooting a remark back. "But you might just want to slow down now!"

"So close…" Pearl shuddered, her sole focus was the house and everything around her just became white noise.

"Slow down!" She heard Lapis yell and suddenly something jumped in front of the car.

With a shriek of the tires Pearl lost control of the vehicle and swerved it down a hill deeper into the forest, crashing into several trees and shrubbery. Glass, tree branches and twigs found themselves suspended inside the car. Pearl tried to apply the hand break and slow the tumbling vehicle down but the wheels weren't even touching the ground.

Up ahead she gasped when she seen some barbed wire fences.

"Brace yourselves!" She yelled at the top of her lungs as the car flipped and metal was shredded together, Pearl briefly could make out the tree branch that prevented the airbags in the car from opening, she prepared herself and put her arms in front of her face. It stopped her from smashing her head against the steering wheel and the car kept spinning and shaking. Metal was torn, snapping and cracking was heard and more glass was smashed, Pearl watched the car mirrors snap off before she could check on the passengers in midst of the turmoil.

The violent tumbling was brought to a crashing stop by the roots of a tree.

Pearl's head was smashed back against her car seat, she tried thinking about what had jumped in front of the car in those precious seconds she had remaining, but only a deers skull had painted itself in her mind. Pearl's hand dropped off her lap and she breathed out a pained gasp as she passed out.


	3. Chapter 3 - Disappear

Hello! Just a quick note, but I'm terrible at posting my works on this site. If you go to AO3 however I post every single day until completion, (I'm currently on chapter 10)

BUT I'm slowly getting used to posting here! So you'll be pleased to know that if I post any other stories I'll post them here at the same time everyday too! :)

Thank you for your understanding and enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 3 - Disappear

They held their breath when some distant snapping was heard, Pearl tried to swallow but almost choked herself and then carefully peeked out her window. She chuckled in relief at her discovery.

"It's just a deer… It's just a deer…" She watched the animal glance at the car before calmly trotting away from the disaster, Lapis that was sitting behind her let out a sigh of relief.

Pearl's hand was still pulsing in pain but she had to endure it, she had almost reached the small knife that she kept in the glove compartment. If she reached it, she could easily free herself of the seatbelt.

"W-where's P-Peri? O-or Amethyst?" She heard Lapis shudder, she was growing paler and was not in any state to securely tie any bandages around her wound.

Pearl had to get that knife and she needed to get it **now**.

"I don't know… But let's just hope that they got to safety." Pearl replied, her fingers where brushing the cold metal, she had thought that she got a hold of the knife at one point but it slipped out of her hand and hit the floor. It was going to be harder to get it than before no that she couldn't see it.

"P-Peri's bag… Ugh…" Lapis groaned, "I-it isn't here."

'Well, that's either relieving or incredibly ominous…' and Pearl wasn't wrong.

Perhaps Peridot and Amethyst were okay, perhaps she took her bag and they left in search for assistance or trying to find that house that Pearl spotted…

But what if that **wasn't** what happened?

Who would leave their friends that were possibly dying just like that? Perhaps… Perhaps…

Pearl whimpered.

Perhaps they were taken by that **thing** outside? Perhaps something looted the car and didn't even help them in any way?

She bit her lip and shook her head, 'now's not the time to think about that…' Pearl reached down, feeling for the knife that she couldn't see in the dark. But instead of the cold metal of the grip, her fingers found the edges of some sort of paper.

Pearl picked it up and discovered a ripped photo she didn't realise she had.

It was once a picture of her… And Rose…

Pearl sighed sadly. She was already over the fact that Rose cheated on her with some guy named Greg, but it still hurt. Small mementoes like these made her hope that there was still a chance that Rose will come back to her one day, but why was she fooling herself?

The tall girl crumpled it and shoved the now bloodied picture back into the darkness it came from and returned to the desperate search for her knife.

The knife was close, she could just sense it. But her concentration was broke when she heard sniffling behind her, Pearl looked back and seen the faint outline of Lapis trying to hide her tears.

"Lapis?"

The other girl grumbled again in pain, it was horrible to hear her like this.

"Lapis calm down, we'll make it through this-"

"No." Lapis cut her off, "No… **We** won't…"

Pearl continued reaching for the knife, she could see it glint briefly.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked as she used all her practiced flexibility to angle her body down far enough just to reach that damn knife.

"I'm…" Lapis shuddered and groaned again, "I'm going to die…"

The tall girl felt a chill go over her, she hadn't thought about that… She hadn't thought that Lapis would ever… Die… Due to her injuries.

"N-no… Lapis don't say that, you're not going to die." Pearl tried to control her voice. The belt dug deeper into her side, scratching her slightly and leaving large red marks.

"I'm not an idiot Pearl…" The tall girl jumped, surprised at her name being spoken by the other girl. Her fingers were brushing against the handle. "I… Can't keep conscious much longer… It's hard to breath…"

"Lapis?" Pearl finally grabbed onto the knife and began cutting the belt, the other girl didn't respond. "Lapis! Stay with me!" There still wasn't any sounds coming from her. The taller girl grew panicked and began cutting faster, "Lapis? Lapis!"

"Ugh… Shut up…" Lapis grumbled and Pearl smiled with a sigh of relief. She was surprised to find tears in the corners of her eyes.

Finally she cut the belt and she was free.

Pearl quickly climbed into the back with Lapis, she was faintly breathing. It wasn't a good feeling Pearl had… Normally if a person that made you uncomfortable was to vanish or if something was to happen to them you would feel good, right? Well Pearl wasn't feeling 'good.'

She reached into the back of the car and felt the familiar canvas bag she would keep incase of emergencies. She had to thank her paranoia when it came to disasters sometimes. The bag should have had at least some food and water, as well as bandages and painkillers, she sighed as she put it onto the back seat.

Lapis watched her, but didn't say anything, she looked far to weak to say anything, but Pearl had a hunch that Lapis chose not to say anything intentionally.  
When the bag was opened she instantly frowned, it looked like it had been pilfered through and there wasn't much left in the bag. Reaching for the bottom, Pearl sighed when she felt a near empty pill case and some fabric.

Wasting no time the bandages and sterile cloth was brought out the bag, Pearl gently removed Lapis's hand from her side with minor resistance and tried to gently secure the bandage. Lapis grimaced as she tightened the fabric but Pearl guessed that she was already too numb to react greatly to it.

"Take this," Pearl comfortingly said and put the last of the painkillers into her hand. Lapis weakly put it into her mouth. She then took a bottle of water that Pearl offered her, but was far too weak to lift it. So in her stead Pearl brought the bottle to Lapis's lips and tipped it until she finished drinking down the medication.

It was strange that she would ever be doing this for Lapis. That the girl would even let her do this for her.

Pearl sighed, she wondered if it was possible for Lapis to forgive her for what she done. But by the scowl on the girls face she knew that Lapis still despised her.

"Better?" Pearl asked curiously,

"Get out of my face," Lapis growled,

Pearl frowned, "I just saved your life!" She hissed.

Something was off about Lapis in that instant and Pearl couldn't really understand it, she sounded clearer and significantly less dirty or injured. Painkillers work, but not that quickly and they **don't** come with detergent, 'if it did then that would be a concern for the manufacturers...'  
She kept her mouth shut about this through, 'I was just panicked and started seeing things. It's nothing.' Pearl convinced herself, even though she was still suspicious.

"Like hell," Lapis responded, "you done this to me. This is all your fault, the car crash, Peridot and Amethyst. All because you didn't slow down!"

"Listen here-"

"No, you 'listen here' because I'm sick and tired of this," Lapis grumbled, "if I live long enough to get out of here-"

"You're not going to-"

"Don't interrupt me," Lapis growled again, effectively shutting Pearl up, "I'm never going to travel with you and others ever again to Beach City, in fact, I won't come along at all! I didn't even need to go until you invited me! And I don't ever want to see your face in-"

"Oh I'm just another to add to your collection?" Pearl scoffed, any sorts of compassion left her in that instant. She didn't care anymore about the girl in the blood-soaked seat and she certainly stopped caring about she was viewed. In fact, Pearl felt rather stupid for not reaching this conclusion earlier. "How many people do you 'never want to see again'? hm? Do you just think that pushing everyone away will help you? Will comfort you?" The taller girl could see Lapis scowl but look down to her knees, the definition of irritation written on her face.  
"You're **pathetic**." Pearl said before she stopped herself. "I don't understand how Peridot can stand you-"

"Shut up-"

"-Trapping yourself, it's inevitable that-"

"Shut up!-"

"-She's going to move out and leave you-"

"I said-!"

"Shut up." Pearl put a hand over Lapis's mouth, the all to familiar creaking and cracking of wood was heard outside. The loud breathing and thudding footsteps came back. "shit." Pearl breathed out softly. Her anger gave her a confidence boost but she was no-where near taking on the thing outside with her little knife, she pushed them both down and lowered their heads.

She glanced back towards the only remaining exterior mirror of the car, she never seen what the creature was in great detail but if looked like an animal. It's hulking silhouette was reminiscent of a bear but she couldn't be sure and it's eyes glistened slightly in the reflection. Then something unlike an animal happened, a strong arm with long, sharp claws scratched the side of the car and Pearl held her breath.

With some more animalistic groans the monster soon lost interest in the car and wandered further into the forest, disappearing into the fog. The rain then coincidentally started as the thunder and lighting finally made the skies light up. It made the two girls jump in surprise.

Pearl began to breath normally again and she realised how strong earthy smell was, she swore that wasn't that strong before. She quietly groaned as she heard the rain ricochet off the roof of the car, she had a stupid thought of being struck by lightning. 'But that's impossible right?' A timely flash of light then hit a nearby tree and she shivered nervously.  
Being in a metal car in a storm was definitely a death sentence, but being outside is a potential funeral awaiting for many different reasons.

The tall girl whimpered as Lapis bit her hand, making it bleed just a little bit more, and she pulled away.

"Looks like we're stuck here." Lapis spat out some of her blood and glared at her with cold eyes,

Pearl scowled and glared back at her. "Yes, it looks like we are."

* * *

Oh and thanks 'Little Snuggle'! I swear it's not from a movie xD But thanks so much for the nice review!


	4. Chapter 4 - Survive

Chapter 4 - Survive

Peridot whimpered as she followed Amethyst through the trees and fog. Her bag was securely strapped to her back as they limped their way back to the road that they plummeted from. The luggage was heavy, but she refused Amethyst who offered to carry the thing. It was hers... and she could at least disguise her low level of fitness with it now that she thought about it.  
The bag was filled with whatever they could scavenge from the car, like food, medicine and water. It's not like they could leave it now that...

Peridot grimaced and Amethyst noticed.

"Hey… um… Are you alright?" Amethyst glanced back at her as Peridot climbed over a fallen tree,

"I'm… Better…" Peridot replied, appreciating her concern, "It's just… Lapis… and Pearl…" Her eyes started to well up and her throat clenched painfully,

"Y-yeah," Peridot could see Amethyst holding back her tears, the way her face contorted and her quivering lip was all she needed as proof of that fact.

"Why- Why does it happen to the best people?" Peridot spluttered out with a sniff, "I- I don't-"

"Hey, hey…" Amethyst put a hand onto her back as they continued walking, "it's okay… We're fine right?"

Peridot sniffed and nodded, she used her long hoodie sleeves to wipe her eyes.  
She was trying so hard to be strong.

"I'm… I'm just so unlucky."

"What makes you say that?" Amethyst asked, but the small gasp she let out soon after was enough for Peridot to recognise that Amethyst knew what she was talking about.

She looked down to her legs momentarily, 'no…' Peridot corrected her thoughts, 'they aren't my legs…'

The smell of burnt rubber, taste of metal in the air. It was all too familiar to her, the first time she survived a car-crash she was only ten years old and it cost her the legs that she used to climb trees with… Now it's stolen her friends…

Peridot grumbled, she had to think of something else… Something less distressing.

Trees.

Peridot looked round as they continued to walk. 'Trees are a good memory.'  
There used to be a young girl by the name of Peridot that loved to climb trees. She remembered the times she would fall because of how clumsy she was, it used to make her laugh even when she got that small un-noticeable scar on her forehead due to a bad fall.

But that little girl is no longer here and she's no longer that little girl. Now she was a girl invested in tech that couldn't bear to look at trees, Peridot didn't even know if she **could** climb a tree now.

'Way to go Peridot,' She grumbled sardonically, 'you are the definition of happy and optimism.'

"Hey…" Amethyst interrupted her monologue, "I- I'm sorry…"

"You don't have to be." Peridot put a hand onto her shoulder and stepped down a rock carefully, "we both lost someone important…"

"But…" Amethyst huffed, "It's unfair… Why you had to go through this again… Why Pearl and Lapis had to…" She whimpered,

Peridot felt bad for Amethyst. That was what she felt in a summary right now anyway.

It was scary how much a confident individual could change in the space of a few hours. She liked the confident Amethyst, despite the teasing remarks she would get and the constant dirty jokes… But she guessed that she liked this Amethyst too, the Amethyst that was honest with her feelings and in a way was being strong by telling her and showing her how affected she was.

If only she met this Amethyst without the tragedy.

They kept their eyes ahead of them, the forest was dark, yes, but the moon and the distant lights were enough to keep them walking. The grumbling sky also had a part in their hike, motivating them to keep going before they were struck by a storm. The wind ruffled Amethysts hair and Peridot pulled her hood up to stop herself from shivering.

"Look!" Amethyst said with an attempt of a happy or optimistic tone one they got to the familiar broken road that they drove off of, "there's the house up there!"  
'It must have been what Pearl seen when the accident happened...' Peridot sighed.

They ran up to the front door and knocked several times desperately.

No answer.

Amethyst tried the handle and the door opened without much effort. Peridot would have complained about breaking and entering, but the forest was already terrifying and she wanted to get into shelter as quickly as possible before the clouds rolled in and the rain started.

"Hello?" They called into the darkness inquisitively and walked slowly inside,

No answer.

The house was tiny, a bed sat in the corner beside a small chest of drawers. A set of chairs and a table with some matches and candles decorating its surface were located in the other corner. There was also a warm wooden rug on the floor and a wooden couch in the middle. It looked… Abandoned.

Peridot did not like the looks of the place at all, but a flash of light that came from behind them made her jump, followed by a loud bang.

The storm had started outside, making them have no choice other than stay inside the house.

They closed the door behind them and sat down on the small wooden couch. Eventually they bothered to light a small candle on the table, but they were still slowly processing what happened.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they broke down and they coughed out sobs as they hugged each other for comfort. Peridot gripped onto Amethyst's shirt tightly as the events flooded into her head, she felt the other girl hug her back just as tightly.

But it didn't stop her pain.

—

"Brace Yourselves!" She barely heard Pearl yell as they began tumbling down the hill. Peridot grabbed onto her bag tightly, using it as a cushion and preventing it from hurting anyone. She closed her eyes tightly and wished that it wasn't happening, she wished that they could have just returned home and forgotten all about the meet-up in Beach City.

But there they where, probably going to die by the hands of a **branch**.

She hoped she was having a nightmare like always, it felt like a nightmare. Peridot just wanted the car to stop.

Then as if her prayers were heard the car suddenly stopped with a crash, it was violent and if it wasn't for her seatbelt she would have died by now. Peridot checked herself through cracked glasses, she sighed in relief as she was uninjured, despite the rough scratches and bruises. She looked down to her legs, like a sick joke there was a tree branch jammed in one of her prosthetics. She was happy that she didn't feel that at least. All she felt was some warm droplets of what had to be water on her cheek.

"Is everyone okay?" she heard Amethyst groan,

"I- I'm fine surprisingly." Peridot sighed, "Lapis?" She looked to the side…

She wasn't prepared for the horror she witnessed.

Lapis was limp in the seat, a large branch had punctured into her side and blood coated her seat. There was a large cut on her neck and her jacket was torn, there the technician could see the remains of a smashed phone in her pocket. Peridot brought a hand up to her face, the warm droplets of water were sticky and an odd colour of dark red.

It wasn't water at all.

"Pearl? Pearl!" She heard Amethyst cough and splutter, "Come on P! Open you're eyes! Say something!" Peridot looked ahead, Amethyst had some blood on her cheek and Peridot could see one of Pearl's limp hands hanging off the drivers seat. Unmoving, cold and lifeless.

"Ame… Ame…" Peridot's voice was weak but she still managed to catch the attention of the girl in the front passenger seat.

Amethyst looked back at Peridot, then her eyes landed onto Lapis with horror, her face went paler than before and her eyes went wide.

"Oh… Oh god." Amethyst brought a hands up to her head, she shuddered.

Their eyes caught each others again and they stared at each other in disbelief, their mouths opened and closed almost like a fish out of water but no sounds came out.

They simply can't say anything…

Couldn't say anything.

—

"Are we dead?" Peridot asked suddenly as her head rested on Amethyst's shoulder and the other girl's rested on top of her head,

"I don't think so…" She replied hesitantly,

"They why are we okay?" Peridot added, "Why don't we have some sort of injury?"

"I guess we're just unlucky…" Amethyst grumbled,

"Yeah… I guess so…"

They spent an hour or so like this. Just silently listening to each other breathe or ask little questions just to prove to themselves that they are alive. Peridot then heard a familiar beeping coming from her green bag, she pulled away from Amethyst a little hesitantly and pulled her beeping phone, surprisingly undamaged by the crash but sitting at 2% battery wise.  
Peridot read the name on the screen

It was Garnet.

Peridot answered the call with hurried digits and brought the phone up to her ear.

"Garnet!"

"Hello Peridot." The cool accented voice replied, "Pearl isn't answering her phone."

Peridot whimpered, "Garnet… We need help. Pearl… and Lapis… They aren't here anymore."

"I need more information than that," Garnet replied on the other end of the phone,

"The road got cut off… We crashed the car in a forest and-"

A familiar grumbling came from outside and they gasped falling flat like a pancake onto the floor behind the couch. Peridot could hear Garnet on the phone but she couldn't make any sound. Whatever was outside wasn't human, it wasn't a machine and it wasn't an animal… It was a monster.

"Garnet," Peridot whispered into her phone, "you need to get us out of here. There's something in this forest and we can't get out!"

"I'll be there-"

"It's a forest… Near Ocean Town… Hurry!" Peridot's phone then ran out of charge. But she wasn't too concerned as she never really could care about something so trivial when there was something outside that most likely wanted to kill them, so she held her breath.

She watched the lumbering figure outside look into the window with beady eyes. Amethyst pulled her down and covered her mouth before she could gasp, they listened as the creature growled and then lumbered away with the familiar grumble and shifting.

"What is that?" Amethyst whispered into her ear,

"How would I know?" Peridot whispered back,

"Listen, you're like the smartest person I know, I thought you might know at least **something**." Amethyst peeked out, there still wasn't anything there and Peridot knew it.

"Oh, well as much as I'm flattered. No, I have no clue what that thing is and no, I don't want to find out." Peridot blushed slightly.

Their hearts were still in their throats as they waited out the creature to pass by again, eventually they hid under the bed and cuddled up to each other.

Slowly waiting for the detective to arrive.


	5. Chapter 5 - Discovery

Chapter 5 - Discovery

Pearl breathed in, then out. Slowly, carefully, silently.

She watched the monster shamble about outside, she had been staring at it for the last few hours. It was as big as a bear and walked on all fours, but she seen that it was capable of walking on its hind legs as the front two extended into two large arms with claws. It was wearing a deers skull on its head, the antlers were covered in leaves and decayed plants.

It was just lumbering about, doing nothing.

Slowly she crawled back down.

Lapis was asleep on the back seats, she had put on her tattered remains of her jacket as an attempt to keep warm but it failed miserably. It was the most peaceful that Pearl had seen her in a long time.

She was happy that some colour had re-appeared on her face but honestly she didn't want to think about her. Pearl just had to face it, Lapis hated her, she will always hate her. This event will only solidify that fact.  
She scowled slightly when Lapis began to wake up, her eyes fluttered open and she shivered slightly. Pearl grumbled as she covered the girl with a large scarf she found in the back before she changed her mind.  
Lapis was about to say something when Pearl brought a finger to her lips and pointed outside, the monster was still huffing and shuffling about. Pearl propped her head up by the window and continued to watch the beast, it had begun to walk off again.

Pearl knew that they couldn't stay in the car anymore, the creature was coming back more frequently and it kept getting closer and closer. Just an hour or so ago it nearly opened the back door, she silently thanked Peridot for locking it before the crash effectively jamming it shut.  
But the creature was learning, that much Pearl could tell because it started sniffing about Lapis's side of the car.  
The hand break that was active was Pearl's saving grace when that event occurred. She managed to scare it off by moving the car forwards ever so slightly.  
She glanced down at the break again, it was now jammed just like the pedals.

"It's gone…" Pearl breathed out eventually when the monster was no longer visible in the fog, "We can go now… If we were quick enough, we could run."

"Do I look like I can run?" Lapis scoffed, she grunted as she sat up, "I'll be lucky if I can even stand."

Pearl gritted her jaw, Lapis had a point. But then a new thought went through her head… 'I can leave her here.' Pearl glared at her, 'She'll just slow me down.'  
Pearl snapped herself out of it, the fact that it even crossed her mind was terrifying. She decided to stay with Lapis, no matter how much Lapis hates her, she won't leave her behind.

"I'll carry you," Pearl replied, "If I'm quiet and quick enough, I can get us to safety."

Lapis had a mixture of emotion, but with an almost impulsive decision she nodded.

"We'd better go now then."

Pearl opened Lapis's door and wrapped her arms around the shorter girl who had wrapped the scarf around herself, she swore that she seen her blush lightly. But she let that thought slip, there was no-way that she would blush in her presence.  
They began walking quickly up the hill, Pearl kept her head low as she rushed ahead into the darkness.

The rain pelted against her back and she sprinted once she heard a crack behind her.

"Shit. It's followed us!" Lapis whispered into her ear as she looked behind her from over her shoulder, "w-we're going to die."

"Lapis, calm down." Pearl whispered back, "we're not going to die. Just keep quiet okay?"

She felt her softly nod into her shoulder, her hair tickled her neck and Pearl blushed. The tall girl could hit herself feeling like this, it was only going to end in both of them getting hurt in the end.

The groaning behind her grew louder and Pearl felt tired for no reason, she was deathly out of breath and was about to topple over at any moment.

"Y-you okay?" She heard Lapis whisper into her ear,  
'Is she worried about me?' Pearl blushed,

"I'm fine."

"No you're not," Lapis huffed,

"Why do you care all of a sudden?" Pearl asked curiously as she tried not to fall down,

"I've… Just been thinking…"

"About?"

"What happened between us…" Pearl suddenly felt very cold and yet very hot at the same time, was she feeling excited? Or was she worried? Or was she indifferent? Pearl couldn't tell.

The conversation was cut short when the loud cracks of wood and groaning caught up to them, Pearl gasped and she tumbled down with Lapis into a muddy hole. They held their breath and waited.

The monster screamed loudly, piercing into their ears and echoing through the woods before it began to shamble away yet again into the darkness, the same fog rolled in and covered the creatures exit like always.

Lapis leaned up against the dirt and had a strange look to her face as Pearl brought a hand up to her chest, it had begun aching.

"What?"

"When did that happen to you?" Lapis raised an eyebrow and tilted her head,

"Excuse me?" Pearl coughed and she tasted metal, Lapis went pale again. "Lapis?"

"You're bleeding…"

Pearl touched her chest a little more firmly this time, it felt like there was something there and her fingers grew warm and sticky… She looked down and watched the blood run down her arm.

"W-what?" Pearl spluttered, "How did this happen? I… I…" she leaned back on the dirt, her head began to ache and some flashes of blood splashed on Lapis's face and on her clothes.

Just then, a strange thought entered her head.

"Lapis… Do you wonder if we're really alive?"

"W-what's gotten with you all of a sudden?" Lapis scoffed, "O-of course we're alive…"

They stared at each other again, as the earthy smell became stronger Pearl forgot about the pain and the wound on her chest vanished in an instant.  
Her eyes began to close in exhaustion, "I can't keep awake…"

"Oh no you don't." Pearl felt Lapis shake her shoulders slightly, "I, I have a lot to talk to you about! I can't have you passing out on me!"

"I'm sorry…" Pearl sighed, "I'm so sorry… For everything…" she collapsed beside Lapis and blanked out.

—

Garnet considered herself a good detective; not the best, yet not the worst.

The storm was pounding against the windows, her computer was the only light source in the room and she just finished drinking a cup of strong coffee.

The call with Peridot was worrisome and the language she used about Pearl and Lapis was even more concerning. Her pen nervously tapped against her wooden table.

She instantly got onto her phone and searched her contacts for one of her most trusted partners that she had solved several cases with. Alexandrite.

With a tap on the screen the phone began to call her.

"Garnet." the dull voice responded on the mobile almost instantaneously, her voice was slower than usual and groggy. Garnet felt slightly bad for calling her so late at night.

"Alexandrite."

"Why are you calling this late?" She asked predictively and Garnet could hear the woman hold back a yawn. The detective walked up to her computer, opening up the internet browser.

"Pearl and the others are in trouble, we need to go find them." Garnet explained briefly as she began typing up some keywords, 'Ocean Town,' 'Forest,' 'Closed road.' Her search was rather interesting to say the least and her stomach lurched after reading several research sites. Even searching the database just for some data to discredit what she just read proved to be troubling. What she did know was where Peridot had called her from, she grumbled at the computer screen and found a tiny shack in the middle of the woods on the map.  
This was the last location before her phone suddenly disconnected.

It did not help her nerves.

"I'll be over in ten." Alexandrite finally replied, Garnet guessed that the younger woman was pulling on her jacket and grabbing her belt.

"Make it five." Garnet hung up and put her mobile back into her pocket.

She stood up and walked to the locked cabinet she kept her equipment in.

"I never thought that I would ever have to use this…"

* * *

More chapters tomorrow! :) Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6 - Forgiveness

Her head was pounding once again, her breathing was forced and painful, her hands clawed at the dirt and picked up handfuls of the wet soil. Rain was still dripping onto her face but she felt slightly warmer somehow.

"You awake?" Pearl barely heard Lapis rasp out, she didn't sound great either.

"Barely," She coughed out and opened her eyes. Lapis was sitting beside her, watching her with a mixture of worry and confusion. It was a face she made rarely to her. "What happened?" Pearl asked as she tried to recall the events prior.

"You passed out after we tried to run away." She heard Lapis bluntly respond, her voice showed no particular emotion. Pearl felt the scarf the was wrapped around her neck wearily for a moment.

"Then, we should keep moving…" Pearl sat up and looked round slowly, it was still dark and dreary but the lightning that flashed through the trees was enough for Pearl to see that they were alone. That is for the time being until the monster emerged from the fog again.

Pearl stood up slowly, breathlessly.

Lapis still had her gaping wound in her side, but she still stood up with Pearl (denying to be carried again) and slowly stumbled her way along, tailing behind Pearl that leaned on any tree she could find. She cringed when she noticed that she was leaving bloody handprints everywhere, but it wasn't like she could stop herself.

"I wanted to talk to you…" Lapis said, Pearl could remember the familiar statement, it was something Lapis had said before she went unconscious.

"About?"

"What happened…" Lapis breathed out slowly, Pearl could hear her soft footsteps on the patch of grass and her stumbling when they had to jump down some rocks or tree branches,

"A lot of things happened." Pearl sighed sadly,

"You know what I mean," Lapis snapped back but her voice was soft, "I… Um… I'm sorry."

Pearl went still for a moment before she continued walking. 'There's a lot that we're sorry for.' and Pearl never bit her tongue at that. She said it before she could even comprehend that she said it.

"I know… But," Lapis stopped, Pearl glanced back at her. She had stopped walking and there was hesitation in her body language, clenched hands into fists, rigid posture and a frown. She seen it many times from the shorter girl in the past but Pearl could never find out why. "I want to say that I'm sorry. For pushing you away…"  
A nervous shiver went through Pearl as Lapis continued, "you've still not left me behind and you've saved me too… I feel like shit because in comparison I'm being horrible to you."

"I would understand that though… The thing with Jasper, that's something you can't forget."

"Yeah…" Lapis hummed and nodded her head slightly. But the look in her eyes made Pearl believe that it wasn't the case.

'The thing with Jasper'…

Pearl didn't like thinking about it, yet there she was. Walking and thinking. She closed her eyes and pictured herself there again.

It was a hot summers day, sweat tickled the back of her neck. She was waiting by a small cafe near the sea for Rose.  
Her girlfriend, Rose.  
She was happy back then, she had everything she could ever dream about; A nice house, a car, a good job and a beautiful and caring and **amazing** girlfriend named Rose.

Pearl felt herself smile, she was waiting to go out on a date and frankly she didn't have any complaints or suspicions why Rose was late the seventh time in a row. It had already been two hours and she knew the two possible conclusions already, either Rose will show up or…  
The tall girl felt her stomach flip when her phone went of, she reached into her pocket and fumbled around with it. A simple text met her eyes and she sighed disappointingly.

'I'm sorry! But I can't go today Pearl-' She locked her phone again before finishing the text.

This was the third time this week.

The tall girl turned on her heels and continued on her way, at least the sea provided her good company. She watched the waves as she walked, wondering if she will see that girl in blue again today, she was actually looking forward to seeing her now… Perhaps if Rose was to not show up on their next date, Pearl would gain the courage to talk to that girl, 'maybe even flirt.' Pearl blushed.  
It was calming how the sounds of the waves hit the sand but it didn't help the feeling she had in her gut. She stopped and continued to stare at one point, there was something in the distance, something that made her insides clench.

It was a familiar short girl with dark blue hair, fighting with a larger woman. They were in a reclusive spot on the beach, no one would be able to see them if they didn't pay close attention. What was even more disturbing was that Pearl recognised the girl in blue.

She was a frequent visitor to the beach and Pearl could not deny that she would watch her swim each time when Rose 'forgot' or 'couldn't make' another date or meet-up. She was graceful and strong, she was also quite attractive so it was always a pleasure watching her.

Just not this time.

The girl in blue was bleeding, she glanced at Pearl and her expression screamed 'help!' as the larger woman grabbed her arm almost pleadingly.  
Pearl was about to jump down, about to pull out a small knife she kept for emergencies and was about to go save her.

But she didn't…

A familiar laugh echoed behind her, she whipped round and seen a beautiful woman with large pink curly hair, she seen **Rose** and she seen a man wearing sandals. It wasn't the first time she spotted the same man and Rose together… But it was the first time she caught them kiss.

Pearl's heart broke in that moment, and Rose knew it when she seen her.

Pearl could have jumped to save Lapis…

But she didn't…

She could have called Garnet who was in town…

But she didn't…

She could have called someone else. Anyone at all…

But she didn't…

She just ran away… and never looked back.

Pearl sighed again and glanced at Lapis, she tried not to remember when she was finally introduced to her. It involved a lot of tension and the hatred and hurt that oozed out of the girl was potent, it hurt seeing her like this… But it must have hurt her even more.

"I finally found out why you done that…" Lapis sighed, "Peridot told me and… so I'm sorry… I'm just… Angry at myself and I'm taking it out on you." Her voice was pained and emotional.

The taller girl jumped in surprise, it wasn't something that she expected to ever hear… But then again, there was a lot of things she didn't expect happening.

They kept silent shortly after. They just didn't know what to say to each other anymore…

'We aren't friends' Pearl concluded, 'but we're definitely not enemies.'

—

The detective was close.

Alexandrite was sitting beside her on the front passenger seat of the car, they had just gotten their equipment into the back. She would have to use it as soon as they got to the forest.

"You're worried." Alexandrite stated, "What wrong?"

The detective glanced at her, there was no point keeping it a secret. Her eyes went back forwards towards the road. "They don't have long…" Garnet grunted, "We need to get there before sunrise, if we don't…"

Garnet seen from the corner of her eye Alexandrite nodding her head silently.

She hoped she arrived on time.

"Might I ask what the heavy bag in the back is?" She heard her partner ask,

"Gas masks."

—

Peridot woke up with a jump, Amethyst was still hugging her and she blushed. 'Did I seriously fall asleep?' She grumbled and pushed away from the other girl, practically kicking her due to how strong her grip was and even when Peridot managed to break away she remained asleep. Like a prowling cat she crawled out and looked out the window, a heavy fog prevented her from seeing anything but at least she didn't hear any grumbling or huffing.

She decided to look around the house and distract herself from Amethysts snoring. Going to the only chest of drawers beside the bed Peridot pulled out something that looked like a journal, a compass and a map.

At first she thought that it belonged to a ranger of some sorts, but the complicated language and scientific theories written on the first journal entry changed her mind.

Sitting down onto the wooden chair again, she began to read each page slowly and analysing each formula. She found whatever they were testing to be quite interesting to say the least, but the experiment that they were doing were causing them serious damage. She snorted a little, she never expected a **Geologist's** experiments to be dangerous. In the movies and books it's always a biologist or chemist or physician, it was strange and slightly funny yet it was also oddly unsettling.

One page, however, was far different to the usual scientific theories. It was a regular diary entry and it spoke about some sort of lake and house by the lake, it described the journal owners former colleagues and how they were also trapped by the creature outside and that everyone was strangely growing weak. Eventually some of them stopped answering their radio all together.

But then on the next page it described a 'Eureka!' moment, it was the solution to all their problems. Peridot bit her lip nervously, her stomach clenched and she felt excited. It was the solution to the 'problem outside' as the scientist claimed and finally Peridot felt like she would get some closure as to what the creature was and how to get away safely...

And she went pale at the first word she read.


	7. Chapter 7 - Delusions

They kept walking through the forest and fog. The storm was still raging on but Pearl panted and kept walking forwards, If it wasn't for Lapis helping her Pearl was certain she would have fallen several times now due to the fact that she could barely breath.

"Just keep walking Pearl…" Lapis whispered encouraging words, trying to hide her pain, "that thing could come back at any moment, I'm sure we're almost at the road…"

"What… What about the others?" Pearl asked breathlessly, "we need to find them-"

"We'll find them, just not now." Lapis grabbed her arm and hopped down another rock as they continued their journey down the hill. Pearl couldn't think properly anymore, she didn't even know if they were going the right way. All she knew was the taste of metal and the thick earthy smell.

"I feel like I should tell you this… Before I die-"

"Lapis-" Pearl was interrupted by the other giving her a smirk as she pressed her finger up to her lips. It was obviously important to her, so Pearl remained silent.

"I used to watch you… Y'know?" Lapis tried to chuckle and Pearl raised an eyebrow, "I was just so unhappy with Jasper, I sometimes thought irrationally… Dreaming about something else… Hoping for something to happen."

"What are you on about?" Pearl coughed, the taste of metal in her mouth. Lapis must have been just as delusional as her,

"You were so freaking pretty… With your white shirt and long legs…" Lapis muttered, Pearl blushed furiously. "That's what made it so much harder…"

"Y-you're not thinking right…" Pearl said, she hoped that Lapis was just delusional… Then again, a small voice at the back of her head hoped that she was serious.  
'It wouldn't work out anyway.' she repeated to herself and just focused on walking.

"I wanted to flirt with you quite a few times…" Lapis smiled slightly, "and I knew you were watching me too…" Pearl watched her stumble, her movements became sluggish. Pearl kept silent with her blush. It was just a bad dream, a car crash is believable, but Lapis confessing to her was just too unreal. "You made me visit that beach way too much, made me swim and show off way too much…"

"Lapis… This is not the time for this…" Pearl replied, but it came out was a whimper,

"No… It is…" Lapis collapsed, Pearl quickly caught her but was far too weak to keep her standing. They both collapsed and hit the ground, tumbling further down the hill.

"Lapis?" Pearl landed onto of her and lost control of her body as she brushed the hair out of Lapis's eyes once they reached the bottom, she thought she seen blood splatters on her face, coating her neck in the bright red liquid due to a deep cut in her neck…

…But it must have been a trick of the light, Pearl blinked and it disappeared. Curiously she reached down and touched Lapis's neck, it felt hot despite the rest of her being cold. Lapis whimpered slightly in discomfort.

Pearl gasped slightly in the realisation of the position they were in, she was looming over the other girl and was far too close. They blushed slightly and caught each other staring at each others lips and with slight panic Pearl shot up and let Lapis sit up. She was still too close for it to be normal, but it was better than before.

They stared at each other silently before Lapis began to speak again.

"Do you wonder… if we're actually alive?" Lapis sighed,

"Yes…" Pearl nodded her head slightly,

"I'm sorry…"

"Me too…"

They stared at each other for a bit, Pearl felt her cheeks go red again when she seen another small blush form on Lapis. She supposed that it wasn't so bad… Lapis wasn't a bad person, she was rather endearing and maybe even cute if Pearl looked passed her grumpy exterior…

But her heart has been wrong before.

"I never hated you…" Lapis whispered faintly,

"Why?" Pearl felt her tears come back and drip onto her chest.

"I was just irritated… All this time." Lapis answered, "Honestly, I never wanted you to help me back then, I didn't want you involved with Jasper-"

"But-"

"I was irritated, that you never spoke to me sooner… That we never spoke about what happened… That you never noticed the way I looked at you sometimes! I never wanted to put my anger onto you, that was the last thing I wanted to do but I was just so irritated…" Pearl could see her eyes glaze over slightly, tears escaped and the taller girl shuddered. "Jasper… Changed me…" Nervously, Pearl brought Lapis into a hug and in return the girl wrapped her arms around her waist and she sighed.

"I'm sorry…" Pearl said, her voice as loud as a whisper,

"No… don't be…" Lapis replied similarly,

Then the grumbling came back…

Pearl looked back from where they had fallen, the large monster wearing the deers skull was emerging from the fog. It screamed and began walking down the hill, it's giant claws scratching the trees as it's black tongue licked a truck. It was a tree trunk that just so happened to have Pearl's blood on it.

It had followed them…

And it had followed them in the most terrifyingly, disgusting way possible.

"We need to go… now." Pearl carefully stood up with Lapis but she didn't notice the branch on the ground.

With a loud ' **snap** ' the monster looked at them and Pearl's blood went cold.

"Run!" Lapis grabbed Pearl's arm and dragged her down the hill. They leapt over logs and sprinted as fast as they could, the monster behind them was running on all fours and was catching up quickly.

The sound of rushing wind, rustling, cracking, the beast behind them the harmony of the thunder and lightning played together like an orchestra as they ran through the rain and the fog. Only the flashes of light lit up the way ahead.  
Pearl used this to her advantage and ran towards a tree, the monster was inches away from yanking her scarf. But when the light diminished again Pearl spun away, she could hear the monster lunge into the tree and she could hear the monster scream afterwards.

It had done absolutely nothing other than leave a crack on the skull, making it only more terrifying.

Pearl felt Lapis grab her hand and using the mud they slipped under a fallen tree. The beast followed but the space was too small for the monster to go through and it slowed the thing down long enough for Pearl and Lapis to put some distance between them and disorient the creature.

However, their sprinting was cut then short by the appearance of a lake through the fog.

"W-we can't swim through that!" Lapis panted and yelled through the whistling winds and thundering sky, her wounds had started to bleed heavily and it bled through her bandages and shirt. Pearl could even see that she was trying not to whimper or cry, but she was failing.

Pearl scanned the scene with narrowed eyes, the monster would soon be upon them as with each flash of light the silhouette drew nearer. She thought that they were going to die by it's claws or drown when she spotted a lake-house in the distance.

"Over there!" She grabbed onto Lapis's hand and pulled her along.

They ran for their lives. There was no fallen trees, rocks or fences to slow the monster down, it was just a clear run. Pearl glanced back when she heard the sound of gravel being kicked and the cracking of branches under a heavy weight, the monster had just came out the opening it was running right behind them.

Getting closer and closer with each flash.

With a giant leap, they opened the door and jumped inside just as it raised one of it's claws and brought it down barely scratching Lapis's back.

Pearl slammed the door shut and locked it.

Lapis nervously hugged her, arms tightly gripping onto her shirt.

They tried to ignore the howling, the screeching and the thudding.

They tried to ignore the thundering and the flashes of light.

They tried to ignore the dried blood inside the house.

They tried to ignore the stench of death and earth.

They tried to hide their fear.

—

Garnet had just stopped outside the forest. There was no 'sign' that Peridot mentioned, nothing that closed the road off from entering Ocean Town and the only thing that she seen was a thick 'fog' coming from the forest.

"Put the masks on." Garnet reached into the back and handed Alexandrite a mask. They slipped it over their heads and then started driving through the fog.

They drove carefully, watching for every movement. They were deathly quiet as they listened for any signs of life.

The road was uneven and rocked them slightly, Garnet then started to see the tyre treads on the ground. It was similar to any sort of scene to any car crash, this must have been where Pearl hit her breaks.

Garnet gritted her jaw and continued, she sighed when she finally seen the treads lead off the road and into the forest, up ahead they could see a light and the structure of a house.

"I'll go to the car crash," Alexandrite said, she must have noticed Garnets emotional turmoil, "go find out what's happening with that abandoned house."

The detective nodded, as stoic as she usually was, she was not prepared to see the corpses of her friends. They exited the car but kept it running, there was no way that there was going to be anyone out in a forest at this time of night looking to steal a car.

Before she went to the building, Garnet grabbed a few more masks and walked the rest of the way. She had to stop herself from watching Alexandrite decent into the darkness, she turned her radio on and tested it.

"Alexandrite, come in."

"Loud and clear." She heard the voice reply, slightly muffled due to the mask, "I still can't see the car, but it's crashed into nearly every rock and branch." Garnet gritted her jaw again,

"Continue going down, if you see anything report."

"Roger." Alexandrite responded.

There wasn't many times were Garnet was scared, but when it came to her friends… her 'family'… She hated the possibilities that entered her head.

She approached the door, the masks clanking together.

Reached out her hand and knocked on the door.

 **'Knock,**

 **Knock,**

 **Knock.'**


	8. Chapter 8 - Hallucination

The grumbling ceased for now. The storm had passed and the moonlight shined down onto the murky lake…

The monster was gone and Pearl could finally catch her breath.

Lapis was sitting beside her on a dusty old couch, she looked cold despite wearing a jacket, the previous scarf that Pearl wore was now wrapped around her stomach tightly, covering her wound and replacing the bandages.

The room looked like an abandoned outpost of sorts, but Pearl deduced that it wasn't owned by a forest ranger. More like a geologist if anything, there where rock samples and dirt littered messily around the room. It looked like whoever stayed here left in a hurry at some point in time as there was countless papers coated in a dried brown substance coating the floor.

She shivered at the thought of it being dried blood.

"How are you?" Pearl asked Lapis, who was grunting slightly,

"I… Ugh… I think that I opened the cut up again…" Lapis hissed, "It's okay… I'm fine now." Pearl nodded her head absently, it was still strange to her that Lapis was being so friendly and open to her. Almost as strange as her confessing that she had a crush on her, "What about you?"

Pearl shuddered, no point lying to her, "my chest hurts… and I'm still out of breath."

"B-but you'll be okay? Yes?" Lapis looked at her with concern, she was almost pleading for her to say that she'll be fine. Pearl didn't know that for sure though.

"Yeah." She forced herself to smile, "I'll be okay, it's nothing…" She lied.

Lapis still looked at her with the deep blue eyes filled with concern. Pearl thought it obvious that the girl never believed her.

Eventually, Pearl stood up and walked to a desk with the most papers scattered around, she picked up one of the sheets randomly and looked at it. Complicated chemical reactions were scribbled all over the page, debating theories and discussing strange gas compounds. It made her head hurt looking at it.

"What did you find?" Pearl heard Lapis ask from behind her,

"Nothing important," Pearl put the paper down and returned to the couch. Her chest was hurting her now more than ever, she groaned and leaned back.

Lapis watched her curiously, when Pearl looked back at her she blushed and looked away. She had a frown on her face like usual.

'Something must be bothering her…' The tall girl coughed, yet again there's that mysterious metal taste in her mouth, it was enough for Lapis to look back at her again in worry.

"Pearl?"

"Yes?" Pearl sighed softly, trying her best to relax.

"I want to tell you what happened back then... My side of the story." She scratched her neck nervously but winced slightly.

"Sure..." Pearl breathed out.

"So... What happened with Jasper..."

Lapis was finally alone. The sea was a refreshing change to the cramped apartment she stayed with Jasper, there was ocean and water where her eyes could see and a sunny, blue sky up above. Unlike the closed doors and locks of her room. She wondered why on earth she stayed with Jasper, she was mean and scary, constantly irritating her. Then when she tries to leave and break up the other girl apologises and gets onto her knees at times.

Lapis was sick of it.

There was something her life lacked and that was freedom. She grinned as she ran up to the water and began her routine, wondering why she was slightly happier today. Out of the corner of her eye she seen her, a tall blonde girl that constantly waited by the cafe. She was pretty, but what Lapis liked more was her determination to keep going in hopes that something will change. The woman was like her in a way, waiting for change.

Today wasn't going to be one of those days however, she was going to finish swimming and catch her just before she left.  
"Hi! My name's Lapis Lazuli!" She cringed, that's too generic,  
"Sup? Name's Lazuli." Lapis submerged into the water, that was even worse than before.

She felt like a creeper at times, constantly glancing at her to make sure she was there and then trying not to get caught.

When the girl finally frowned into her phone and began walking, all the alarms went off in Lapis's head. She swam to the shore but something suddenly grabbed her arm, in a powerful motion she was thrown into a rock and cut her back badly on the broken glass bottles.  
There was Jasper, once again on her knees pleading for her to come back.

Lapis glanced to the girl, she had noticed and looked like she was prepared to do something. She tried to convey to her not to risk her safety, there was countless glass shards that Jasper will, and once did, use. She watched her turn away and then she ran. Lapis had a mixture of emotions, she was angry and irritated at herself for not going sooner but then she was sad again. It was a cycle that she hated.

When she finally got away from Jasper. She couldn't bear to look at Pearl again once they were introduced, she was just a big reminder, after all, of how lowly she thought of herself.

Pearl let out a small breath as she took it all in. She wondered why they never spoke about this before, but understood that Lapis had to go through a lot everyday. Too much to even compare.

"I don't want to regret again, or think like that ever again." Lapis stated, "So... Do you think… That after this is all over…" Lapis frowned and grumbled again, "would you like to go to the Beach?"

Pearl just blinked, "I thought that the reason we were going to Beach City was to go to the Beach."

"N-no, I mean…" Lapis blushed, "Together… Alone?"

"Are you… Are you asking me out?" Pearl blushed slightly, and Lapis nodded shyly.

"So?"

The tall girl wanted to say yes, but she hesitated. 'It's ridiculous…' she sighed, 'it'll never work out.' But the look Lapis gave her said otherwise. Pearl had been strangely charmed her again by the girl in blue, it was as if she was meeting her for the first time… Without the bitterness and apparent hatred.  
She swallowed her dread and tried not to think about the future, it was time her heart started beating for someone again.

"Yes." Pearl smiled, "Yes… I would love that." Lapis smiled in relief and chuckled slightly.

Pearl found it cute, she laughed a little. 'Lapis was adorable?' When did that cross her mind?

She took Lapis's hand and they shyly managed to interlace their fingers.

Pearl was happy again despite it all, and she was happy with **Lapis** despite it all.

They stayed like that for a while until Pearl finally had enough of the silence and began looking around again. Lapis silently protested by holding onto her hand longer, but she let Pearl go eventually.

She walked back to the desk and pulled out some more papers. Pearl impatiently scanned through them, not really paying any attention to the pages as her head started to pound again. The tall girl grumbled and abandoned the notes, she could just read them later.

A glint of something shiny caught Pearl's eye and she turned slowly, discovering a broken safe in the corner that was held only by some chains. She walked up to it and crouched down, the door was open slightly and she could see that Inside there was some sort of box. The space in the door was unfortunately not large enough to reach in and pull the box out.

There was some movement behind her and Pearl turned around to see Lapis look through the notes she left out on the desk.

"Pearl?" Lapis called her name, "you might want to read this…" Pearl watched her face grow pale and her hands shake.

The tall girl stumbled over and looked at the notes with her, focusing on the points where Lapis pointed at.

Pearl could now understand why Lapis was so scared…

It described in detail the hallucinogenic properties of the poisonous gas that came out the lake, it described a white-smoke appearance and the strong earthy smell. Pearl gasped when she read the shocking stories of the gas and concluded with her chest full of dread that being exposed for too long led to certain death.

It wasn't fog…

It was poison.

And they already were exposed for too long…

The thudding sound of the beast returned, it was their deaths approaching yet again. Pearl could feel her tears well up in her throat and she whimpered.

They sat back down onto the couch, trying to make sense of it all and resting their shaking knees.

"Pearl?" Pearl looked up to the face of the voice. Lapis looked like she was going to cry, "a-are we still up for that date?" Pearl whimpered out a yes, "a-and we're going to go to the beach right?" Pearl nodded her head, her chest just kept hurting, she swore that she could see blood on their bodies. Blood that they couldn't see due to their hallucinations.

"Everyone's going to be there," Lapis continued, "Peridot and Amethyst will probably leave and go to an ice cream stall… They've always sorta liked each other." she finally sobbed. The grave realisation death was too much…

Pearl pulled her into a hug.

"We're going to die… Oh my god… We're going to die…" Lapis cried,

"Lapis…" Pearl put her hand onto the back of her head, she was going dizzy again. She couldn't lie to her anymore, she couldn't tell her to calm down or that 'everything will be fine' anymore. So she closed her eyes slowly…

"What will we do at the beach?" she smiled slightly as she imagined it. The cool waves, the hot sand and the salty breeze.

"Well…" Lapis began.

Garnet will be playing a game of volleyball, partnered with no one other than Alexandrite against Sugilite and Sardonyx. Another one of their friends, Opal, would be meditating on the beach with Bismuth nearby, digging for coins and messing about with the others.

Amethyst and Peridot are in the distance and are enjoying each others company, she always knew that they would go out eventually.

Pearl herself is in the water; Not swimming, just standing. Lapis is beside her, holding her hand. She always looked nice in the water… Then…

"Then what?" Pearl hummed, opening her eyes and looking down at Lapis, her cheeks were covered in tears and her lips quivering.

"And then…" Pearl finds herself coming closer, staring at the others lips,

"Then?" Pearl whispered, her lips just inches away. She put her hand onto Lapis's cheek.

"If you're okay with it… we…"

Their lips touch and Pearl never wanted to pull away. Lapis's hands dug into her hair, pulling her closer and earned a surprised sound from Pearl. They opened their mouth a little wider, eager and desperate for comfort. Pearl done her best to forget her chest-pains, the shortage of breath and the taste of metal…

But then Lapis pulled away.

Pearl felt abandoned for a moment until she seen the look on Lapis's face. She slowly looked down at her lips, blood was dripped down her chin and her mouth was full of blood. Pearl's heart lurched when she thought that she had hurt her in some way.

"Pearl…" Lapis gasped.

But the taller girl couldn't say anything, her mouth was now full of blood and her chest made her wheeze. They looked down in horror.

A sharp shard of wood with barbed wire wrapped around it was lodged into her chest.

Pearl collapsed backwards, it wasn't a large shard of wood…

But it was enough…


	9. Chapter 9 - The Search

Chapter 9 - The Search

Peridot had finished reading and re-reading the journal, she tried to analyse anything she could and made several difficult calculations trying to find more information on the fog… On the **gas.** Outside.

She knew she had to wake Amethyst up, so she walked up to the bed and shook the girl as hard as she could.

"WAKE UP!"

Amethyst grumbled and hit her head as she bolted awake.

"God… Peri don't do that!" She crawled out from under the furniture and sat onto the covers as she stretched. "Is Garnet here?"

Peridot shook her head and presented Amethyst with the journal, she flicked through it and made a shocked expression.

"Whoa!"

Peridot grinned but then a shocking revelation came upon her…

"I have no clue what any of this says P-dot." Amethyst sighed,

"I knew it." Peridot grumbled, she crossed her arms and then began pacing back and forth. She was aware that Amethyst was watching her every move but she was hardly concerned.

"Okay, okay, what does it mean?" Amethyst asked, a degree of concern and some forced playfulness in her voice, "I can tell that it's talking about gas but that's about it… Oh! and theres a little in here about a lake-house." Peridot watched her flick through the pages.

"Amethyst," Peridot cleared her throat and gained her attention,

"Sup?"

"What's that out there?" She pointed out the window, it was still clouded over with the 'fog'.

"Fog?"

"Wrong!" Peridot proclaimed, "it's gas. hallucinogenic gas!"

Amethyst just stared at her in disbelief, "you're joking…"

"Nope!" Peridot started to laugh, she couldn't explain why she found it so funny, it was just so unbelievable to not laugh about.

"Peridot?" She heard Amethyst's concerned voice but she continued laughing, "Peridot! Stop it!"

"Hahahahaha! Don't you see? Everything's not real!" Peridot continued, "what else? It's **poison**! Hahaha!"

"Peridot, you're freaking me out!" Peridot watched her attempts to calm her down but nothing stopped her historical laughter… It didn't stop her tears either as she burst out crying. "Hey, come on… It'll be fine…" Amethyst pulled her into a hug. But Peridot shook her head.

"We're trapped in here… By a figment of our imagination… and we're going to die…" Peridot shuddered,

"What are you saying?" Amethyst patted her back, "something that isn't real can't keep us locked in here."

"But the gas can…" Peridot whimpered, "It's a gas that makes you 'forget' and 'ignore' your injuries. We could be dying right now and we won't know because we can't see it."

"But what if we weren't injured in the first place?" Amethyst tried,

"Then we'll suffocate by dawn…" Peridot sniffed and wiped her eyes again with the hoodies long sleeves.

They jumped when they heard shuffling outside. Something 'clinked' together by the door

"I'm not going to hide from something that's not real." Amethyst stood up with a growl, "COME AND GET ME YOU SKULL-FACED, FREAKY, BEAR BASTARD!" She yelled at the top of her voice.

' **knock,**

 **knock,**

 **knock.'**

The door went and they jumped back.

"Can it do that?" Amethyst whispered and Peridot shrugged, her heart was pounding as the door began to open and she gasped as the fog slowly seeped inside.

"Amethyst! **Don't Breathe!** "

They took a deep breath and held it, Peridot even closed her eyes just to concentrate on not breathing the gas in. She heard the loud breathing and heard the heavy foot steps. She jumped when something was put over her face and she opened her eyes only to come face to face with the tall detective called Garnet. She took a much welcomed breath of oxygen.

"Hello Peridot, Amethyst," she said through the mask, Peridot could see the corners of her mouth rise into a smile.

"GARNET!" they jumped at her and hugged her closely.

"So~ Skull-faced, freaky, bear bastard?" Garnet looked down at Amethyst,

"heh, heh, yeah… Long story…" Amethyst rubbed the back of her head. Garnet stopped her however and put a large bandaid that she must have pulled out from that belt of hers and plastered it above Amethysts left eye. "Why did you?"

"You're bleeding."

Peridot walked them closely, she slowly felt the effects of the gas leave her system and she looked at Amethyst. She had large cuts on her arms that were already dried and several bad bruised on her legs, she had blood running down the left side of her face that came from the bandage that had some red blood on it already.

"Am I okay?" Peridot asked Garnet and the detective gave her a thumbs up in response. She sighed slightly in relief and glanced at her backpack, she silently dubbed it her 'greatest achievement and defence' and in that moment she knew she would never part with it. Peridot shuddered at the possibility of what it would have been like if she hadn't taken her bag.

Their meeting was interrupted by the static of Garnets radio tuning on.

"Garnet. come in. Garnet." She recognised the voice but had forgotten her name,

"Report." Garnet pressed the side button and the radio beeped before whats-their-name replied.

"I've found the car…" Peridot cringed and whimpered, she felt Amethyst take her hand and she happily obliged. Any moment now and- "There's no one inside…" Peridot perked up, "I repeat, there is no one inside. You might want to take a look at this though…"

Garnet gave them a strange look and she headed out the door, Amethyst and Peridot followed her but looked fearfully about.

"It's clear…" Garnet hummed,

"Listen, you don't know what we've seen… **We** don't know what we've seen…" Peridot grumbled, "I don't care if it's just an illusion we created, it can kill us-" She felt Amethyst's hand creep into hers again and squeezed gently,

"It's okay… I'm here for you."

Peridot blushed.

Slowly they descended to the crash site, it was chaos on the way down. Peridot never realised the amount of scrap metal there was and she never fully paid attention to the amount of carnage the wreck caused to the environment. Trees had large scrapes on their trunks, rocks where smashed and small shrubs and plants were destroyed. The constant shifting around them was also unpleasant.

They found Garnet's partner down by the car, her torch had lit up the interior and Peridot could see the blood splatters on the windows. They would be lying if they said they weren't at least a **little** disturbed.

"Alexandrite-" ' **That's** her name…' Peridot hummed as Garnet began, "go back to the car and call an ambulance, wait for them there. We'll arrive to that house up there before sunrise."

"Affirmative." The woman began to walk up the hill again, her hand had already found it's way to her phone and begun dialling the emergence services.

"Where could they have gone?" Amethyst huffed, she couldn't bear looking inside the vehicle. None of them could.

Peridot glanced around once again when she heard more shuffling in the dark, she shivered but at least she seen something unusual in the mud…

She grinned. **Footprints**.

"Over here!" She called them over and pointed down,

Amethyst cheered her on, "Woo! Way to go Dot'!"

"Perhaps you should be a detective." Garnet chuckled,

"Please…" Peridot sighed, "I'm a technician."

The mud trail led them down a hill, they shivered when Garnet shined her flashlight over some grass and discovered a trail of blood that led off a hill.

'They must have fallen…'

Peridot tried to forget the image of Lapis, caked in blood with a branch impaling her or Pearl's limp hand. She tried to imagine the blood as something else, something passive, like strawberry jam. But she was quick to find that it was impossible so she stopped trying.

Their search found themselves near a large lake, the blood trail led to the small house that Peridot recognised as the 'lake-house' described in the journal.

She hoped and prayed that they were okay.


	10. Chapter 10 - Running Out Of Time

Chapter 10 - Running Out Of Time

She was fine a few moments ago. Now she was dying; her face pale and her hand lay off the couch limply, her breathing was faint and painful.

Lapis grunted as the sharp pain in her side made itself known again, she hissed as she tightened the scarf. It was not the time for it to be bothering her this much, she had to do something… Anything.

She glanced at Pearl yet again…

Her jacket was lying over Pearls stomach, it was the best she could do without agitating the…

She shivered.

Lapis didn't know how Pearl could have managed to come so far with that stuck in her chest. Lapis's own wound didn't come close to the anguish that this… This **stake** could have caused her.

"Oh Pearl…" Lapis brushed some hair out of her eyes, the taller girl was still unconscious and it was longer than last time. She feared that it might even be the **last time**.

Lapis whimpered and purposely touched her wound, the sharp pain brought her back to reality.

'I can't be thinking like this. I need to do **something** … Anything.'

She left a kiss on Pearl's forehead and stood up painfully. There must have been something to save them in the house, anything to prevent them from dying to the poisonous gas that poured in from the cracks in the windows and front door.

Lapis looked at the notes again in confusion, she did not have a clue what the chemistry notes meant, 'Pearl could have figured it out.' she sighed.

What she did understand was the theories and observations in the notes. She deduced that there was some sort of 'vials' that the scientists created, something that they could throw into the late and prevent more toxic gas released in the future. But by the surroundings they didn't have enough time to throw it into the lake.

The girl in blue sighed, 'I wonder what happened to them…'

Lapis jumped when she heard a cough from behind her, she turned and seen Pearl shivering on the couch. Her chest was still bleeding, yet not as much as it would if she pulled the shard out. It made Lapis's heart break.

Still, she continued to search and finally found the safe in the corner, she slapped herself mentally of how obvious it was and how stupid she was for not noticing it. There was a heavy chain, yet rusted on the edges, that kept the safe from opening, inside she could see a box.

It must have been the vials.

It just had to be…

'How am I going to get it out of there?' Lapis hummed, there wasn't any lock on the chain so she had to break it some how. Experimentally, Lapis yanked on the more rusted side of the metal.

It clattered slightly but it was still solid.

She needed to break it another way.

Lapis stood up and looked round the room, there was a small seat in the corner of the desk, so she lifted it painfully and smashed it onto the chain.

Nothing.

She used some of the rock samples.

Nothing still.

She hit a tiny hammer she found on the table at the chain.

It still wouldn't break.

Lapis was almost out of options when she heard a familiar grumble and stomping approach. Outside she discovered the monster prowling and grunting, seemingly disinterested in her. But she knew and she knew that the monster knew that she knew it was baiting her to come out.

She childishly stuck her tongue out and flipped it two middle fingers. It didn't react…

But it felt good doing it.

Lapis tried looking around the monster, to it's right was a small degrading dock leading into the lake, it didn't have a boat attached to it and the ropes looked too old to use. Then she looked to it's left and discovered a small shack outside.

It was falling apart and several boards were falling off the thing but she still grinned at what she seen.

It was an axe, a rusty water-damaged axe lying lazily on it's side by the shack.

Then there was the monster…

"Well… Shit." Lapis cursed and glared longer at the fiend, it was taunting her. "Dick."

Lapis returned back to Pearl after having a staring contest with the monster for a little longer, sure it was scary and she will regret it later. But being inside the house made her immensely confident and it was starting to show.

Pearl's breathing was getting shallower, she was now barely conscious as her eyes fluttered and she groaned at times.

"Pearl?" She asked weakly, the taller girl made a sharp grunt. Lapis could see it was difficult for her to talk and blood continued to spill from her mouth, she didn't have anything to wipe it with however.

After considering her choices, Lapis bit her lip and looked down at Pearl again.

"I'm going to do something… Insanely stupid." The taller girl frowned slightly, her hand weakly raised and Lapis held it close to her cheek. "I'll be back… I swear…"

"La-pis…. D'… On't" Pearl tried making sounds, formulating words in her head and strategising her tongue to make the appropriate sounds.

"Shhh…" Lapis brushed her cheek softly kissing her forehead. "I'll be back…" She whispered into her ear and stood up.

She watched Pearl painfully wheeze and cough as she tried to move, to resist Lapis in every possible way.

"I'm sorry."

Lapis waited till the monster wasn't looking, it took several minutes until she judged it safe and she creeped out the house. She ran quietly up to the shack, keeping low to the ground and carefully controlling her breathing. The first thing she noticed when she got there was that it smelled terrible, curiosity overwhelmed her and she peeked inside and discovered several rotting corpses of scientists.

They had barricaded themselves inside the shack, their expressions filled with pain.

Some had visible injuries and peaceful expressions, they mustn't have known that they were even injured. Others were holding their throats… They suffocated in there as they hid.

Lapis gasped and grabbed the axe. It was not unnoticeable by the monster and it began to charge at her again, kicking up gravel with it's claws.  
Lapis ignored her pain and shock and **ran**.

Using the axe she swiped at it, the monster in turn dodged out the way. Lapis grinned, it wasn't very smart at all…

The monster had moved away from the front door, leaving it wide open for Lapis to jump inside before she was grabbed.

She shut the door behind her with a loud ' **slam!** '

"La-pis…" She heard Pearl wheeze and she rushed over,

"I'm here! I'm okay, see? I'm fine…" Lapis took her hand and put it up to her cheek, she felt Pearl brush her thumb against it ever so weakly and she smiled slightly as a tear fell. "You need to stop worrying about me… Let me worry about you now…"

Lapis kissed Pearl's wrist and left her again, her breathing was slowing down even more… Lapis could also feel the gases effects on her. She breathed in and her throat would some times spasm and would clench up. It felt like she was being choked.

Quickly Lapis walked up to the safe and destroyed the chain in two well aimed swings, taking the box out just as quickly. Lapis opens it and discovers the colourless vials inside, each were numbered and labeled…

All she had to do now was throw them into the lake. After opening each glass container and delicately closing the box, Lapis prepared to walk up to the door when she heard heavy breathing and three sets of beady glowing eyes looking at her through the fog in the window.


	11. Chapter 11 - The Solution

Chapter 11 - The Solution

Lapis jumped in surprise at the new creatures outside the house.

'Are they the **three** horsemen of the apocalypse?' Lapis tried to joke, she was going to die either way. So she can at least be entertaining till the end.

Jokes aside, Lapis almost dropped the box she was holding in surprise but managed to catch it in time. She gasped as the door started to open…

This was it…

This was how they die.

She watched them momentarily, listening to the creaking that they caused outside and they scratching of the door. It was as if they had large clawed hands like that monster and couldn't properly grasp onto the handle.

The girl sighed and defeatedly put the box down as she walked up to Pearl. If she was going to die, then she didn't want to die alone.

Lapis's cheeks suddenly felt wet, bringing a hand up and wiping whatever it was away. She found tears. She was sobbing so quietly that she herself did not realise that she was crying.

She put her head onto Pearl's stomach, over the tattered jacket that she tried to use as a blanket and she felt the taller girl brush her hand over her cheek again. Lulling her to sleep, Lapis slowly closed her eyes and listened to the footsteps walk into the room.

'I'm prepared to go now.'

Lapis imagined hearing the bells of heaven. Was there a heaven? She didn't know, but the thought that she could meet Pearl again or try again was comforting.

But all she heard was three distinct gasps and a voice.

"O-Oh my god!"

It was Peridot's voice.

Lapis bolted up in surprise, she must have scared the others half to death as they jumped back and protectively pulled their hands out.

They were speechless.

The short girl looked back to Pearl, she was unconscious again and there was times that she would stop breathing. It must have been a terrible sight to them, because Lapis knew that they could never comprehend how she was feeling right now.

"Peridot?" Lapis painfully stood up and stumbled over.

Indeed it was the short girl, her room-mate and friend. Peridot.

She now sported a new gas mask and her hoodie sleeves looked damp and slightly ripped. Lapis half expected to get the running hug she was known to give when she was happy or excited, but instead slowly backed away and hid behind what could only be Garnet.

"What's wrong?" She tilted her head softly and Peridot when as white as a sheet.

"D-don't do that!" Peridot whimpered, "J-just sit down! I-it'll be okay!"

"Huh?" Lapis looked down at herself, sure she looked a mess; covered in mud and sticky with blood. But she felt fine other than her wound in her side. If anything they should have been concerned about Pearl.

But the expressions the others gave her was a different story…

Garnet stepped forward and gave Lapis a mask, she even tried to slip a mask over her face but Lapis put it over Pearl's instead,

"Lapis…" Garnet gasped, "you need this, if you don't wear it-"

"I don't care what you see…" Lapis interrupted her, "I need to be strong now, this gas makes me stronger-"

"No it doesn't!" Amethyst gasped, "It's just-! Hiding! Hiding everything that can kill you!"

She tried to push Lapis down onto the couch, but she was far too delicate and too scared to actually touch her. Lapis swallowed the fear that was building in her throat.

"Sorry, but there's something I need to do."

She grabbed the wooden box and walked towards the exit,

"Wait, Lapis don't!" Amethyst tried to stop her but Lapis easily pushed her to the side. They paled again, so she must have done something to herself that was going to bite back in the future.

'That is, **if** there is a future.'

Before she exited into the fog and ran from the monster, she stopped and turned to look at the others, they were all crying, glancing between Pearl and her.

"Look after Pearl for me… Please?" Lapis smiled finally and walked out.

"Lapis!" She heard Peridot run out and followed her, "Don't, that thing-! I- I can't see it but I know it's here! I know that you can see it!"

"It's not real Peri," Lapis coughed slightly, "just a hallucination."

"I will kill you if it catches you!"

"I know…" Lapis walked ahead slightly,

"So why? Just ask us to do this for you! We can go out into the fog and throw the box for you!" Peridot sounded desperate, Lapis felt her grab onto her shirt.

"I don't want you to do it."

"What? Why?!"

"Because **I** want to do it, myself." Lapis watched the creature that came out of the fog, it stared at her with it's beady eyes.

"That's stupid, you're going to get yourself killed!" Peridot gasped, her grip tightening, "I don't want to lose a friend like you…"

"Heh, wow… Thanks," Lapis smiled. It gave her some confidence knowing that Peridot thinks of her so highly, she wondered sometimes why on earth Peridot ever put up with her. "Sorry, but I'm not going to change my mind. I'm going to do this for Pearl and nothing will change that." Lapis coughed again,

"You're doing this… For Pearl?" There was some skepticism in her voice, Lapis could imagine her confused face.

She chuckled happily, "I finally spoke with her… She knows and… and…" Lapis sniffed, trying to keep her lip from quivering, the monster was laughing at her up ahead, she had to be strong. "I've asked her out on a date Peri… So I need to come back, I **will** come back-"

"But-" Peridot sobbed,

"Can you tell her that when she wakes up?-"

'She won't wake up-'

"-That I'm going to meet her again-"

'I won't make it…'

"And that we're going to go to the beach?"

'We're going to die-'

"I will." Peridot sobbed and she finally let go,

"Thanks Peri. You're the best."

Lapis stumbled to the water.

The creature charged at her several times, but grinding her teeth, Lapis kept walking forwards. It hurt as the monster scratched her, it wasn't like anything she ever felt before. Each slash phased through her, but in return her throat tightened and breathing grew heavy.

It was suffocating her with each swing of its claws.

But then as she stepped onto the water-worn wood of the dock, she was surprised to see the monster slow down and start to circle around her like a vulture. Slowly cornering her further and further down the dock, not daring to lift a claw against her.

'It knew.' Lapis grinned and she fell off the dock and into the water, spilling the contents of the vials and breaking the box.

She watched from under the surface as the monster disappear when the fog cleared, it was always just her imagination. Then she watched her blood pool around her as she witnessed the cuts form on her body… Wounds she hadn't seen before…

Slowly, her vision faded and she couldn't breath anymore.


	12. Chapter 12 - Healing

Chapter 12 - Healing

Garnet gritted her jaw as she fished a partly drowned Lapis from the water. She really couldn't describe her condition as anything other than terrifying, she wondered how she never bled out.

The wound on her side was much larger than what the bandage covered and there was a long cut running from her neck to her back, blood coated her body due to several minor cuts across her back.

But Pearl… Garnet didn't think that she would survive.

She carried them back to the road as carefully as she could, slipping oxygen masks over their faces. It wasn't like they needed the masks anymore now that Lapis had cleared up the lake, but she just needed that extra security.

"Will they be okay?" Amethyst asked, a degree of fear in her voice. She was pale and would also need medical treatment.

Garnet stayed silent. She didn't know if anything could be done for them.

They breathed a collective sigh of relief when they arrived at the road and heard the familiar sound of an Ambulance approaching.

Alexandrite called them over and they rushed to the others in seconds, putting them onto separate vehicles with the same destination.

Ocean Town Hospital.

—

Lapis woke up painfully, her head hurt and she kept hearing beeping around her. She felt something on her face, it made her breathing sound strange and it rubbed against her cheeks but otherwise it wasn't too uncomfortable. Lapis slowly opened her eyes and with a frown she scanned her surroundings, it was many shades of blue, green and white, she recognised it as a large curtain and after noticing everything that was attached to her arms she groaned at the realisation she was in a hospital.

'Hospital.'  
The word left a bitter taste in her mouth, she hadn't been to one ever since she cut her back up on the glass.

Lapis brought her hand up and pulled off her mask, it was finally annoying her.

Some light escaped when the curtain was pulled back and she grinned when she seen a familiar girl in green drop her bag and rush to the bed.

"Hi." She tried to smile,

"Y-you're awake? You're awake! YOU'RE ALIVE?!" Peridot burst out crying, "you're alive… Oh thank the stars."

"The stars?" Lapis chuckled, "What about god?"

"I mentioned that all powerful being enough," Peridot replied and laughed, her outburst made many familiar faces peek inside and greet her.

Amethyst came barreling through the curtain, her hands were pulled out awkwardly, like she wanted to give her a hug but was restraining herself.

"Hello," Lapis scoffed out a laugh, "miss me?"

"Like you wouldn't believe!" she looked like she was internally screaming by the way she had a jump in her step and her hands clenched into fists, "Agh! It's been DAYS!"

"We're glad you're okay," Garnet added as she walked through the door, supportively putting a hand onto Amethyst's shoulder and perhaps even pulled her back a little from the bed.

"How do you feel?" Amethyst asked,

"Not dead, that's a start." They laughed at first until Lapis abruptly stopped, she looked down at her hand and seen some bandages covering it. But something was missing, something… **Someone** that held her hand when she needed it.

"What's wrong?" Peridot asked her voice full of concern,

"Where's Pearl?"

They awkwardly looked at each other and pulled back the curtains, indicating the bed in the other corner of the room that also had a curtain around it.

"She's still in a coma…" Amethyst sighed, "I'm guessing you two worked out your differences?"

Lapis blushed, "I guess you could say that we done a lot more than that…"

"Oh…" Peridot hummed, but then her face began to light up in realisation, "OH. I forgot to tell them..."

"It's fine," Lapis gave her a weak smile, "I'm sure everyone will know eventually."

"You and Pearl huh?" Amethyst chuckled, "Who would have thought it?"

"I would." Garnet crossed her arms,

"Yup, you would." Amethyst smirked.

Several days passed before Lapis was finally allowed to stand up, then it was two days after that when she finally could see Pearl.

She looked peaceful, her mask was still secured tightly onto her face and she had many bandages covering her chest. But she still looked Peaceful.

Lapis spent most of her time having a one-sided conversation with the comatose girl, telling stories of different trips that they would have and the dates they would go on. She knew Pearl was listening, sometimes she would twitch or tears would escape her eyes if Lapis described something a little too emotional. She was such a cry baby, but now she was slowly turning Lapis into one too.

Lapis was discharged relatively quickly, surprising many of the new friends she met.

The hospital was full of different people with an array of different problems, Lapis felt relieved wearing normal clothes again… Even though the jacket never fit her because she was borrowing Amethyst's until she gets a new one.

She got outside when she met Amethyst standing with a rather large woman that she recognised as Bismuth.

Her first introduction with Bismuth wasn't pleasant. When she seen the woman walking into the room, she had a flashback of Jasper and she wasn't as nice as she should have been. But after some thinking on how stupid she was being before the third visit that Bismuth came over, she was happy to call her a 'friend'.

"Hey Lapis!" Amethyst waved and flashed her a playful grin as she shortened the distance between them, "how's sleeping beauty?"

"Still in a coma," Lapis sighed, "but she can move a finger, so she'll wake up soon!… I hope."

"Well Pearl's always been a tough one," Bismuth chuckled, "she'll be out in no time."

Lapis gave her an expression that only could be described as pitiful and sad.

Eventually they drove away from the hospital and for once in her life Lapis actually wanted to stay behind.

She visited Pearl nearly every day, the others such as Bismuth, Sugilite and Sardonyx had showed concern over the entire ordeal and they didn't believe... Lapis just had to bite her lip to stop it from quivering, she had to face it at some point.

Pearl wasn't going to wake up.

It was a rare occasion for there to be more than one other person to visit Pearl with her, but Garnet had called everyone together and made them go. 'Detectives intuition' she had hummed at the time.

No one thought anything was going to happen and nothing was going to change…

…Until finally she woke up.

Pearl's eyes fluttered open slowly, Lapis had started to miss her light blue eyes. The taller girl looked from person to person and instantly located Lapis amongst the visitors faces. There was some focus and determination in her eyes that Lapis recognised from the car crash and she blushed at being the focus of those eyes. Suddenly, against everyones wishes, she pulled her mask off, reached out to Lapis, grabbed her shirt and pulled her in for a kiss.

Lapis smiled and leaned in to it, taking her hand into hers again.

"Woah! When did this become a thing?" Bismuth Lapis then heard her chuckle,

"Like, ever since the accident." Amethyst replied, "Did you not know? I thought it was obvious."

"Only your relationship with Peridot is obvious." Garnet remarked,

"It's still a miracle that they're alive," Peridot huffed, "So I'm not that surprised to see them sucking each others faces off."

Lapis blushed furiously as she pulled away from Pearl. The taller girl was smiling at her and she looked like she was about to cry again.

"Hi."

"Hey…" Lapis smiled even more.


	13. Chapter 13 - Breathing

Well here it is, the last chapter! I hope you Enjoy! :)

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Chapter 13 - Breathing

It was yet another hot day in Beach City, the sun was peeking through the blinds and warmed the bodies that lay inside on the large bed.

Pearl grumbled slightly as the sun hit her eyes but it wasn't discomforting, she opened her eyes and lazily looked over to the girl that was lying on her chest. She was breathing softly and nuzzling into her with a cute little noise as if trying to protest against the sun itself.

The taller girl chuckled and brushed the back of her head gently.

It wasn't long until her blue eyes opened once again and she smiled at her.

"Good morning," Lapis said with a slight, tired, slur. "How long have you been staring at me?"

"Oh, just for a couple of hours…" Pearl teased and she earned a playful nudge and a small kiss on her cheek, "honestly I just woke up a minute or so ago."

Lapis hummed slightly and she lay back down onto Pearl's shoulder, her arm had wrapped around her waist again and pulled her closer.

"Just five more minutes…"

"They're going to wonder where we are if we're late-"

"Shhh… Five more minutes…" Lapis kissed her chest softly and Pearl blushed a little,

"W-well okay then…" She wrapped her arm once again around Lapis's waist, she would be lying if she said she never hesitated.

It was a large scar, a scar that reminded them forever of what happened and engraved the face of the monster into their subconscious. It wasn't the only scar that Lapis possessed however, as Pearl lifted her head slightly to kiss her neck, she seen the scar that led to her back. Another reminder.

"You okay?" She heard Lapis whisper into her ear, she flashed back to the car in that moment and some tears dripped down her cheeks.

Lapis sat up slightly and tried to brush away each tear only to sigh sadly in defeat and kissed Pearl.

She welcomed the touch of her lips and tilted her head slightly to meet hers. It was a pleasant medication unlike most of the drugs that she took now, Lapis was a never ending pillar of support, and Pearl supposed that she was also one to Lapis.

Pearl sighed and focused on Lapis's hands, they were crawling up her body slowly and carefully pulled up her shirt just until she felt her fingers stop over her own scar.

Lapis pulled away and sadly looked down at the scar, the blush and clenched hands was the same exact tell-tale sign that she was hesitating.

"Does it still hurt?" She asked as her fingers traced the scarred tissue.

"Only in here." Pearl pointed to her head and wiped away her tears. They were gone for now, but she knew that they would be back at some point in the near future.

Lapis gave her a small nod and kissed her again, much shorter than before, but long enough for Pearl to forget about her worries.

"Are you sure you want to go to the beach today?" Lapis asked, it was the fifth time she asked ever since they began visiting Beach City again.

"Lapis~" Pearl whined slightly, "I'm okay, I'll be fine."

The shorter girl did not look convinced.

A sudden knock interrupted their thoughts and the door suddenly opened.

Amethyst was holding the door handle in one hand and actively resisted Peridot's attempts at pulling her away.

"Wakey! Wakey!" She laughed, "It's time to- Oh!" Amethyst awkwardly turned away from them, "Never mind, I didn't need to see that…"

Pearl furiously blushed once she noticed what she meant. Quickly as she could, Lapis got off of Pearl and sat beside her with her legs over the side of the bed and Pearl fumbled about with her shirt, pulling over her scar. The door shut and they let out an embarrassed groan.

After their eventful morning, Pearl had put on her swimsuit and put on a summer dress over it. A ball of nerves sat in her stomach about showing off her scar but she forgot about it as soon as she seen Lapis.

They awkwardly smiled at each other and their hands intertwined as they met up with Amethyst and Peridot.

"That quickly?" Amethyst smirked devilishly, "I know you like it fast Pearl but-"

Pearl blushed furiously, "T-that's NOT what was happening!"

"Oh really? Well whatever you say!~"

Pearl swore that one day there was going to be a report of a missing person in the future, and that missing person would be Amethyst… Because eventually, Pearl liked to believe, she would be kicked so hard that she'll land on the moon.

The tall girl sighed and followed them to the beach after Lapis reassuringly squeezed her hand.

It really was a lovely day, she seen Garnet in the distance, still winning at that volleyball game against Sugilite and Sardonyx. She was unbeatable when she was paired with Alexandrite.

She suddenly had a rush of deja vu, Opal was putting sunscreen on and was preparing herself for some yoga.

Bismuth was in the distance, building sandcastles and then protecting them with an inflatable hammer, she was bopping others left, right and centre that came to close to her masterpiece. Pearl just had to silently applaud her work, the small sand structure had an interior, with a small canal around it and some sticks and small plastic spade acting like a drawbridge.

She snuck up to Bismuth and stealthily gave Lapis a small leaf of a nearby tree.

Bismuth would thank her later.

With a grin, Lapis snuck behind the large woman as Pearl distracted her.

"Hello Pearl!" Bismuth grinned her hammer prepared to bop. "You wanna try get by me?"

"I'd rather not…" Pearl replied,

"Oh, I see… Playing it smart are we?" Bismuth laughed, "well, nothing's going to get by me-!"

"Done!" Lapis grinned and slipped around Bismuth, the larger woman turned round with a tiny degree of panic in her movements and seen her sandcastle, still intact, but a tiny leaf flag was decorating the tiny branch at the top.

"Heh, nicely done." Bismuth lowered her hammer slightly and nodded her head like a proud critic… A critic of sandcastles.

"What can we say?" Pearl hummed,

"We're an excellent team." Lapis wrapped her arm around her waist.

Pearl watched Bismuth's eyes glance at Lapis's scar, she instinctively and protectively wrapped her hand around Lapis's waist. It made Bismuth re-focus on their faces, she slightly frowned, but only in concern.

She cleared her throat, "Pearl, I heard from Amethyst that you were thinking about swimming-"

"And?" Lapis raised an eyebrow, her voice was sharp,

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there feisty little thing," Bismuth laughed, "I was just going to say that, 'don't worry about **it** '." She winked at her, "we all have our battle scars, so just don't stress."

Pearl smiled slightly and she seen Lapis smile slightly too.

"Thanks," She graciously replied,

"Catch you in a game of 'ultimate death catch' in the water later on?" Bismuth grinned and wiggled her eyes slightly,

"You're on!" Pearl laughed and they left the tall woman in piece after giving her a high-five.

She was slightly nervous as her hands clenched the fabric of her dress as she pulled it up ever so slightly.

"It'll be fine." Lapis smiled at her as she also took off her skirt, leaving her in only her swimming wear and revealing her scar fully. "I'm here for you… We're here for you."

"Yeah…" Pearl breathed out and she pulled the dress off, casting it to the side with their belongings. She expected everyone to suddenly stare, to make fun of her… But nothing changed.

"Y'know…" Lapis hummed as she took her hand and led her to the water, "it's not as big as you think it is… It's like… a star on your chest."

"O-oh, you think so?" Pearl blushed slightly as they entered the water,

"Yep, I know so."

They were in the water that reached to their hips, not swimming, just standing.

Pearl looked back and finally seen Amethyst and Peridot, she chuckled as they managed to destroy Bismuths sandcastle. She also sighed happily when she seen Sugilite and Sardonyx finally win a game against Garnet and Alexandrite, but she was certain that they cheated. Opal, of course, was like opal and continued her meditation. But Pearl always had a suspicion that she just fell asleep.

Then there was Lapis standing beside her, she turned and smiled as she looked down at her.

"And then Lapis?"

"And then?" She seemed confused for a moment when she suddenly smiled shyly,

"And then?" Pearl lowered her head down, eyeing her lips.

"If you're okay with it… We…"

"Kiss…" Pearl sighed as their lips pressed together once more.

She felt Lapis lightly cry, but she wasn't sad, the grin on her face told Pearl otherwise.

'Lapis always did look good in the water.'

She pulled her closer and opened her eyes slightly, Lapis was happily looking back up at her and Pearl found a completely different reason of why she couldn't breathe.

* * *

Something that I like to do is a small "behind the scenes" segment at the end of a story. If you go read this on AO3 then you'll get all the notes and the progress that went into the story.

But since I've become used to posting on this site, if I was to write another story and post it here. Would you also like to have the "behind the scenes" thing? Leave a quick review and let me know! :)

So Till next time!

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EDIT: Wow 'Little Snuggle'! You really know how to make someone feel good about themselves! :D Since you've been so nice, I've edited this chapter to include the notes on AO3! I swear that if I write another horror (or story in general) I'll put as many notes as I can!

Unfortunately this was only a little project that I pieced together, it wasn't as well thought out when it came to the geologists perspective of the lake and I never spent much time thinking it out like my other stories! So I'm sorry about your unanswered questions but I totally agree with you! (it does kinda add to the mystery.)

Anyway! Here's the 'behind the scenes" to 'Don't Breathe'!

1) I wanted to set several contrasts in the story (that you may or may not have already noticed). Contrasts such as team Perithyst/Amedot questioning if they are dead and team Pearlapis questioning if they are alive. Some other contrast include Pearl over-reacting against Lapis' 'easy-going, chill, 100% done with this shit' nature.

2) At first, I had no clue what I wanted the monster to even look like! I just knew that I wanted a bear/werewolf like creature to prowl in the forest. So I though, "what makes me uncomfortable?" and then I remembered that I hated the original belief of what a Wendigo looked like, so it's kind of intentional and it made even ME scared if I was in that situation!

3) I actually wanted a witch to be involved in this story… But I have to say that along with vampires, pop culture has made me think of them as the 'good guys' so I don't feel like I can write a good and scary fanfic were the characters are running from a witch, but you never know…

4) Fun fact, I wanted Pearl and Lapis to actually be dead. So there you go. (You know what I'm like.)

5) This story was actually NOT the main story I was working on, I'm trying to do a much longer Pearlapis story that ISN'T a horror (I know, shocking) currently. This was just something fun I've been doing!

6) This is going to be quite the stretch, but if you pay close attention to the dialogue I tried my hardest to make it seem like Lapis had some unvoiced feelings for Pearl when she still "hated" her. Only when she was delirious and close to death did she actually voice them.

7) Bismuth was going to show up earlier, precisely when Amethyst and Peridot found that house actually. She was going to be 'the geologist' in the story, but the idea wasn't as good as it sounded! Mostly because Bismuth doesn't really seem to be the scientist type. She was also going to be a forest ranger at one point, but that wasn't a good idea either.

That's all I can remember from this story... Apologies! There's nothing that interesting this time during the development!

So, Until Next Time!


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